Motorbikes choose lanes by rule, not by gap. Article 13 of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (No. 36/2024/QH15) requires every vehicle to travel in the correct part of the carriageway and the correct lane for its class — and the fine schedule prices the mistake at 600,000–800,000 VND for wrong-lane riding under Article 7(3)(d) of Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP, with point deduction attached.
The basics
On a road with marked lanes, ride inside the lane markings appropriate to your vehicle and direction. On roads without lane markings, keep to the right portion of the carriageway in your direction. Never cross a fixed median between opposing flows — crossing the median is its own violation beyond the wrong-lane rule. Where a road has designated lanes by vehicle type — bus lanes, motorbike lanes on some bridges and newer arterials — the designation governs.
The Hanoi reality
The gap-riding habit — threading between cars, riding the edge of the bus lane, hopping to the head of the queue between the curb and the first car — is exactly what the lane rules police. Most violations are opportunistic, small, and fined without sympathy, because lane discipline is what keeps the dense flow predictable. Bridges and elevated roads with explicit motorbike lanes are the easy case; the ordinary six-lane arterial at rush hour is where the rule earns its fine.
Related violations that ride along
Wrong-lane riding pairs naturally with three neighbours in the fine schedule: counterflow riding (riding against the permitted direction — the 4–6 million band), overtaking on the right where not permitted (600,000–800,000 VND), and squeezing across the median. Each is checked independently; a single aggressive manoeuvre can draw more than one clause.
The practical line
Stay in the marked lane for your direction, treat medians as walls, and if the queue is long, wait — the 600–800 thousand VND shortcut costs more than the minute it saves. For riders from countries where motorbikes filter between lanes freely: Vietnam’s flow is denser but the rule is stricter, and checkpoints watch lane behaviour at junction approaches.
Information, not legal advice. Verified against Law 36/2024/QH15 and Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP on 2026-09-22.